5 Easy Ways to Earn Mad Money

Even if you’ve trimmed your budget, it’s important to still have “mad money” to spend on things you enjoy. If your fun money account is dwindling, here are a few simple ways to earn some extra money or goods for a little of your time:

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1. Bottle caps – Do you drink Coke products? If so, please tell me you’re not throwing away your bottle caps without entering the codes! I did so for many months before I decided to to go MyCokeRewards.com and start entering my codes. Since then I’ve earned several Blockbuster rentals (including some “movie night” deals that included popcorn and drinks), a t-shirt for a friend, and two magazine subscriptions. Now, admittedly, you’re better off drinking water or something cheaper than Coke products, but if you do buy them, you might as well put those caps to use.

2. Gazelle – In my latest decluttering binge, I ran across an old cell phone. It was a Samsung and definitely not the latest model. I checked eBay to see what my chances were of selling the phone (nil), and then went to Gazelle and input the details of my phone. Gazelle gave me an estimate of what they’d pay for the phone provided it was in the condition in which I had described it, then sent me a prepaid envelope for my phone and charger. A short while later I received an email stating that they’d checked out my phone, and that it was just fine. They provided a code for $15 off Amazon products. I could have received the payout in the form of a check, but had the choice of Amazon or many other vendors. Now $15 isn’t much, but it’s more than I would have gotten had I just dropped my phone in a charity bin. Gazelle also takes your Amazon Kindle (generation 1 or 2), laptops, MP3 players, digital cameras, LCD monitors, satellite radios, external drives, GPS devices, gaming consoles, video games, PDAs, camcorders, movies, and more. They claim to wipe your electronics clean of personal information before reselling them. If you have some old electronics just sitting around, Gazelle is a painless way to make some money. They’ll even show you a graph of when’s the best time to sell to make the most money.

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3. Surveys – Welcome to scam-land! Only trust those survey sites that you’ve heard about from word-of-mouth from someone you know and trust or a respected company or blog. This is how I discovered ERewards. It’s a legitimate site that I’ve used to earn rewards like a $15 certificate to Borders. I’m averaging about $10-15 a month in goodies. ERewards lets you know up front what a survey is worth, even if you disqualify part way through (which earns you a lesser amount). The downside is that if you’re like me and aren’t a frequent spender on hot items (flat screen TVs, cars, etc.), you might not qualify for many surveys; however, you’ll still earn partial credit. That partial credit adds up quickly. Other downsides: Their surveys can take longer than the time estimates they give you (I usually complete the surveys casually while watching TV). A search of the Internet finds some angry people reporting that their points were once wiped away, but I haven’t experienced anything like this. Other survey sites to check out: PineCone Research and MySurvey.com. With all of the survey sites you research, just be sure to read the terms of service and make sure you’re comfortable with their privacy policy.

4. Half.com – I still encounter people who haven’t heard of or used Half.com, so I thought I’d better include this one. Half.com has a very simple interface for posting and pricing your books, movies, music, and games for sale. It’s not an auction; you’ll receive an email when someone has purchased your item. If you notice things that aren’t selling, you can easily switch to “repricing mode” and reduce the prices. It’s a good way to declutter and make some extra money.

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5. Research companies – A friend once invited me to come along to an event at a research company. For an hour of my time, I sat in a room with other people and was presented with two Arby’s sandwiches. We were given checklists that had us grading the aesthetic appeal of the buns, the “mouthfeel,” and so on. It took an hour. I left with a full stomach and a $30 check in my hand. On my way out, I asked to be placed on their mailing list for other research. Do a search of the web or your local phone book for research companies in your area. Place some calls to find which ones are open to public testers, and request that they add your name to the list.

Do you have some tried-and-true ways to easily earn extra dough? Please share in the comments!

10 Reasons Why Following Your Passion Is More Important Than Money

Elite Daily have got some great points as to why you should chase down your dream job, regardless of how much the wage is. If you’re feeling unfulfilled in your career, maybe it’s because you’re on a path that doesn’t connect with your passion? Maybe it’s time to steer right off that road and take a different route:

Money is a very powerful thing, it builds empires and breaks down kingdoms, it allows for dreams to come true and it takes others away, it makes some people happy and others completely miserable. Today the pursuit of money is almost directly linked to the pursuit of happiness, many will argue that money = happiness.

However, this is inherently problematic as this mindset leads many people to stray down a path that doesn’t best suit them. When people choose their careers, they are sometimes blinded by money and so choose to follow the paper trail. Although money is great and can buy us all the things that will temporarily make us happy, no amount of money can buy time. Time is our most valuable asset and it is something, that while on this earth, we should spend most wisely. You shouldn’t feel like you’re mindlessly wasting your life away

This generation is particularly in trouble because jobs are scarce and many of us will be stuck doing jobs we hate just because we need money. Although this may be the right move for our careers now, this shouldn’t be something we do for the rest of our lives. it is best we search for something we are passionate about. Here are the 10 reasons why you should follow your passion and not the money.

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1. Working for money may seem like good enough motivation for one to keep at their career.

Every morning Monday through Friday you go to work 9 to 5 sitting their punching away the hours stressing about the work at hand. This is not a way to enjoy your life. Working for 8 hours a day 5 times a week at something that makes you miserable is not the way you live life to the fullest.

Many people who choose careers that don’t make them happy will tell you that they would all do it differently if they had the chance. You only have one life, so don’t waste it working somewhere you hate just because of the money.

2. You’re more passionate about the work you are doing.

There is nothing worse than having to wake up every morning during the week to mindlessly go do work you don’t even care about. However, this is never really an issue when you are passionate about the work you do. If you are not forced to work somewhere because of monetary constraint, you truly enjoy what you do and you never really work a day in your life.

3. You can relate more to the work and come up with better ideas.

Being forced to do work is one of the most draining experiences. While there are times at every job where you may feel the work may be draining and dull, you have to realize that not every day is going to be an enjoyable one. There are highs and lows, but when you are passionate about the work you you look past the dull days. Your creative process is also different. You are more inclined to come up with creative ideas when you like what you do.

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4. Work doesn’t feel like it’s forced upon you.

When you value money over your overall health and your passion, you will find yourself in an endless cycle of misery. Work no longer becomes a career or a journey, but more of a taxing nuisance on your mind and body that has to get done.

Every day that you go to work with this mindset you begin to hate your job more and more. While many people feel that they must work hard to retire and have money to enjoy themselves, what’s the point of enjoying yourself in your later years when you spent your life being miserable?

5. No matter how much money you make, nothing will help you overcome the feeling of doing something you hate.

Many accountants come into corporate America, put in reckless hours during the week and make a great paycheck on pay day. Many of them have all this money piled up, but they never really get to enjoy the fruits of their labor because their labor takes up most of their lives.

Many of them hate their jobs because they aren’t really passionate about what they do. Is there a worse feeling than doing something you hate? Eventually this hatred will cause stress and in the long run, it will have lasting effects on your health.

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6. You are more inclined to work later hours.

When you work somewhere that you are passionate about, putting in later hours isn’t as much of a burden as it is when you don’t like what you are doing. To you, putting in the extra hours doesn’t hurt as much because you don’t feel like you are forced to do it, which makes the experience that much more enjoyable.

Every industry has a busy season and without a doubt there will come a time when you will need to put in the extra hours. Will it be easier for you to work longer on something you can relate to or something you can’t stand doing?

7.You are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Certain obligations at your work will require you to go above and beyond the call of duty. In certain times during the busy seasons, you may be asked to do certain tasks that are not part of your everyday schedule. It is much easier for you to put in the extra work if it’s something you actually care about. Because you are passionate about your job, you will be willing to put in the extra effort to go beyond what is required of you.

8. No obstacle will stop you from achieving success.

When you really enjoy what you do, nothing will stop you from getting your work done. Because you are passionate about what you do, you feel unstoppable and nothing can obstruct you from achieving greatness. Your passion ignites your work, and like a rocket, it accelerates you past road blocks that may come about. Any obstacle that comes your way is accepted and fought off with a creative solution.

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9. Our working careers will consume most of our lives, so we might as well do something we enjoy.

You will spend a majority of your life working and there is no other way around this fact unless you are born into a wealthy family or marry rich. For the rest of us who weren’t fortunate enough, we will be spending a good portion of our lives working in order to make ends meet.

There is no way around this, so we might as well accept the cards we are dealt. Many people go about this the wrong way because they feel like work is something they have to do rather then something they can enjoy. Once you realize that your career should be something you enjoy, then you will lead a more happy and fulfilling life.

10. You will get more fulfillment when you finally make it.

There are few feelings better than achieving a level of success you set out for yourself. Nothing like crossing off your bucket list of goals you set out for yourself to achieve. When you finally reach the pinnacle, it is that much more enjoyable knowing you got there doing something you love. Remember work doesn’t have to be something that you hate doing, stay true to yourself and always do what makes you happy.